dash wiring question

[chris85]

Well in classic "might as well" fashion I decided I wanted to simplify the wiring while I'm tearing everything apart. I originally didn't want to dive into the dash bc I knew this was pretty unfamiliar territory for me, but I did. And now I'm wondering if I should continue.

My plan was just to take everything out and replace it with a painless/american auto wire/ whatever kit. From what I could tell from on here and from the instructions from some of these kits, these kits don't seem all that complicated to put in (basically zero wiring experience); much less so than the stock fiasco that is in there. An LS swap will be happening in the future so that should help with simplify some of the wiring.

So my questions are, if i continue on with taking all the wiring out is there anything I need to keep? Do these kits replace everything?

I believe I know the answer to this question but I'm still going to ask....Do I have to take out all the stock AC ducting under the dash to get to all the wiring? I want to keep my AC, but I'm thinking if I take it out now, I probably will just leave it out until I feel I need it again, then of which I may go with something like the vintage air systems.

I guess I'm basically just asking should I mush on and make it cool and actually learn something about wiring? or just deal with not know what all that sh*t under there is?

 

[dyeager535]

What year is this?

The aftermarket is no more simple than factory....GM didn't use anything more than they had to. You can't simplify the bare minimum. You *can* fix butchered wiring more easily with a new harness though. But if you are replacing a stock harness in good shape with an aftermarket harness, where would you expect simplification to come from?

Most of the "confusion" comes from not understanding what wire does what. Wait until you get the pile of wiring that the LS uses. Once you start working on it, it all makes sense though, and is a lot less overwhelming than it seems.

 

[chris85]

It's an 89. I think you're right about the confusion just being due to my ignorance in wiring. I really got thinking about the wiring bc it has a cb radio, some kind of battery conditioner, and some other weird accessories wired in and I guess I just assumed it to be easier to take it all out and start over. Guess I'll just have to go digging to find those and delete them.

I contacted American auto wire about their kit and they suggested that I not use their kit if I planned to use the stock gauges and maintain the original electric door locks/power windows. That's new to have someone tell you not to buy their product. Much appreciated though.

 

[dyeager535]

It's an 89. I think you're right about the confusion just being due to my ignorance in wiring. I really got thinking about the wiring bc it has a cb radio, some kind of battery conditioner, and some other weird accessories wired in and I guess I just assumed it to be easier to take it all out and start over. Guess I'll just have to go digging to find those and delete them.

I contacted American auto wire about their kit and they suggested that I not use their kit if I planned to use the stock gauges and maintain the original electric door locks/power windows. That's new to have someone tell you not to buy their product. Much appreciated though.

Yes, stripping junk that others have installed is wise. Also painful. Good thing is that very quickly you'll see that the factory didn't use half-ass wiring connectors and splices, unlike what you are finding I'm sure.

The only real modification that I think is necessary under the dash, is to hard wire the cluster. That factory flexible circuit is problematic. Not everyone has problems with them, but when you do, it's a pain to tear the dash completely apart, then you aren't sure if the problem will not crop back up again later. Or another one related to the flexible circuit. A couple of us have hard wired the cluster, I'm not saying mine is better, of course. I listed the part numbers/parts I used. I think Delphi has come out with a new connector series, no idea if it's something that would be applicable for that project or not.

 

[chris85]

Thanks for the help. The cluster all worked fine before I started taking everything apart so I think modding it will just have wait until something quits working. Who knows how long that will be.

Im kind of relieved you talked me off the ledge there. Haha. Wiring was something I really wasn't looking forward too.

 

[dyeager535]

Well you are going to have to get comfortable with it to do an LS swap! Wiring is simple as long as it's done right.

Do yourself a favor and download the electrical manual for your truck from the link in my sig, if they have it. '87-89 should be all close enough, but obviously better to go with the exact year you have, if they have it. Look at one of the more basic cirucits (perhaps lights, or cluster, ECM would be a good one) and you'll see that everything there has a purpose. It's really not bad, but just looking at the wiring is daunting. The service manual itself isn't a bad one to look at for the real basics, if you look at one of the trouble code charts. Those really simplify a circuit but have enough detail that you can get an idea of how the wiring is setup.

When I got my TPI in a box, I definitely felt like it was excessive. But after I started identifying what went where, it all started making sense. Wiring diagram definitely helps.

 

[chris85]

that may be part of the problem, having the wrong schematics.....I've looked at some wiring diagrams in the Hayes manual but it's not very specific to my model year. I'm starting to find out that the TBI years are kind of the weird years bc every manual I have found just has "typical setup" diagrams. There seems to be some variance through the years. I'll check those out on your site, hopefully they'll be more specific.

Yeah I'm not too concerned with the LS swap wiring bc I'll actually have some desire to figure that out and get it running.

 

[dyeager535]

Not my site, but definitely use those. Haynes and Chiltons are garbage in general, especially so for wiring. There is no "typical". There is right and wrong, and they are wrong. Everything will become clear when you get the factory diagrams lol.

 

[chris85]

Oh man! I just took a quick look at it. Yeah that is definitely what I've been needing. This should help a lot! Thanks!